


Measure In Love

by eternaleponine



Series: Love Makes A Family [12]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Foster Care, New Year's Eve, New Years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22073512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eternaleponine/pseuds/eternaleponine
Summary: Clarke's art show opens on New Year's Eve, and Lexa and the rest of her family are invited to see it.  Afterwards, they celebrate with Clarke's friends, and Clarke tells Lexa about her plans for the future.
Relationships: Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Series: Love Makes A Family [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/763509
Comments: 110
Kudos: 271





	Measure In Love

The click of heels on the floor made Lexa look up, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw Clarke standing in the doorway. 

"Holy—" Lexa started, but was stopped by Clarke's finger against her lips.

"Shh," she whispered. "Not in front of the kids." 

"The kids aren't down here," Lexa pointed out, taking Clarke's hand and pressed a kiss to where her pulse beat in her wrist. 

"Yet," Clarke said, a shiver running through her. "They will be any minute." But she slid her arms around Lexa, her hands straying just a little south of her waist as she pulled her in for a kiss. 

"You look amazing," Lexa said, a little breathless when they finally pulled apart. 

"So do you," Clarke said, giving Lexa an appreciative once-over so obvious Lexa couldn't help but laugh.

"This old thing?" she scoffed, even though she'd bought the dress special for tonight, and Clarke knew it. 

Clarke rolled her eyes, grinning, and brushed her lips against Lexa's again, her heels evening out the slight difference in their heights. "We should probably check on the kids," she said. "We need to get going soon." 

Lexa nodded, but stole one more kiss before heading up the stairs to find out what the hold-up was. She checked on Madi first, and found her dressed, but her hair wasn't done, and she had gotten distracted coloring. 

"Come on, Mads," Lexa said. "We need to go soon." 

Madi looked up and held up a finger, then beckoned Lexa over. When Lexa was close enough, Madi held up the paper, and Lexa saw it was a card. Written in big bold letters across the front was CONGRATULATIONS, and inside it said, 'To Our Favorite Artist, Love Your Favorite Family'. 

Lexa blinked hard, not wanting her mascara to run even though it was allegedly waterproof, not just because the card was amazingly sweet, but because there were actual words on it. To anyone else, it would seem like a little thing, but for Madi it was huge. If she was willing to write, it not only made communication easier while they were working on helping her find her voice again, but also opened up her educational possibilities considerably. "It's perfect," she said. "Are you almost done?"

Madi nodded. She picked up a crayon and added a few more fireworks to the front of the cards – it _was_ New Year's Eve, after all – and slipped it in an envelope she'd also made and decorated herself. She sealed it shut with a sticker and wrote Clarke's name across the front. "Good girl," Lexa said. "Can you go ask Clarke to help you with your hair while I check on your brother?"

Madi nodded again and grabbed her hairbrush and some hair ties. She darted past Lexa, then turned back for a quick hug before clattering downstairs. 

Lexa found Aden in the bathroom, scowling as he tried to wrangle a necktie. "I can't get it right!" he said. "I looked it up on YouTube how to tie it, but I keep ending up with one end too long."

"Let me see," Lexa said. Aden handed it over, looking dubious as Lexa draped it around her own neck and deftly wound one end around the other, tucking it through the knot and smoothing it out, checking the ends to make sure they were as they should be. She then loosened the knot and pulled it off over her head, handing it back to Aden.

"Why do you know how to tie a tie?" he asked. 

Lexa shrugged. "Girls can wear ties too," she said. "But I actually learned because I wanted to prove to Malachi that it was easy, since he thought he was hot shit when he learned how." She grinned. "I did a lot of things to spite him, to be honest. Hopefully you and your sister will always get along better than we ever did."

Aden settled the tie around his neck and tightened it, folding his collar down and straightening the knot. "Perfect," he said. 

"Are you ready?" Lexa asked. Aden nodded, and they went downstairs, where Clarke was finishing putting bows in Madi's hair. They put on their coats, and disappointed Cricket by telling her that she wasn't invited along on this trip. 

"I promise you'll get extra treats when we get home if you're a good girl," Aden said. Cricket heaved a sigh and slunk off to her bed, making it clear that she was going to be the Saddest Dog Ever until they returned. 

The trip to the gallery where Clarke's artwork was on display wasn't that long, but with everyone heading into the city for the holiday festivities, traffic was a nightmare, and Lexa started to fear that they would be late for Clarke's own opening. Thankfully, they finally managed to get free of the worst of it, and the gallery had reserved parking in the nearby lot for Clarke and her guests, so they just made it before the doors were opened to the public. 

The rest of the family arrived not long after, and Aden and Madi immediately buddied up with Tris and Adria, sticking close to the adults as the room began to fill with strangers, but not seeming overly intimidated. Lexa saw quite a few familiar faces in the crowd – friends of Clarke's she'd met last New Year's, or at the wedding, or both. She said hello and made small talk even as butterflies took flight in her stomach. It wasn't even her show, but she still found herself nervous about how it would be received. 

Clarke, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease, but Lexa suspected it was more façade than fact. But maybe she'd put most of her nerves at ease when she'd given the family a limited preview of the show, wanting to make sure they were okay with her showing the world the images she'd decided to use. None of them had seen all of it together, only the parts relevant to them or their children, but maybe that had been the biggest hurdle in Clarke's mind, and what everyone else thought was secondary. 

They'd been there for maybe half an hour, milling around eating hors d'oeuvres and sipping champagne (sparkling grape juice for the kids), waiting to be allowed into the gallery itself, when a man in a black suit who Lexa assumed was a gallery employee ushered her and the rest of the family toward the front of the crowd, where a small podium had been set up in front of a curtain.

A woman – the gallery owner, maybe – stepped up, ringing a little bell to get their attention. "Before we officially open the gallery, the artist has asked to say a few words. So without further ado, please allow me to introduce Clarke Griffin." She stepped down, and Clarke stepped up. Lexa was struck again by how beautiful she was, and how lucky she was to have Clarke in her life. She put on arm around Aden and the other around Madi, hugging them to her sides. 

Clarke looked out across the gathered people and smiled. "I would promise to keep this brief, but I'm not sure I can." A chuckle rippled through the audience. Clarke's eyes caught Lexa's, and she smiled encouragingly at her wife. Clarke's shoulders settled back, and after a quick glance down at the podium, she spoke again. 

"A year and eight days ago, I met my soulmate. I wasn't looking for her, but there, in the middle of a department store while dressed as one of Santa's helpers – me, not her – I found her. And I knew from the moment I realized I'd accidentally stolen her coat that she was going to change my life. I had no idea how much."

There was another laugh at the bit about Clarke's stint as a mall elf, and the unintentional theft, but people quickly settled back into quiet, all eyes and ears on Clarke. 

"A year and seven days ago, I met her family. It was, she explained, an 'Orphans' Christmas'. A tradition started by their late mother, who gave birth to none of them and made a home for all of them. A tradition they carried on after her passing, to give those with nowhere else to be for the holidays a place to find friendship and family and holiday cheer, if only for a night."

Lexa glanced over at Luna, who smiled back at her. It had been Luna's idea to keep the tradition up; if it had been left to Anya or Lexa, it would have died along with their mother, and not just because neither of them had a place that allowed them to host it. They'd just had a harder time wrapping their minds around the idea of the family carrying on without their mom to be the glue that held them together. But Luna, for whom family had always been the most important thing, had insisted, and persisted. Now Lexa was glad she had.

"When I met her sister Luna, I joked that the family resemblance was uncanny. The truth is, they look nothing alike. They, along with their sister Anya, don's share a single strand of DNA. But they share something far more important: love." 

Clarke looked at Lexa again before her eyes slid to Aden. "Seven weeks later, on Valentine's Day, our world got turned on its head for the first time... but it wouldn't be the last." She looked at Madi and smiled, and Madi pressed herself harder against Lexa's side. Lexa squeezed her shoulder, letting her know she was there and everything was okay. 

Clarke continued. "I realized I needed to document this monumental year, not just for myself, not just for them, but for the world to see. Because we have this idea ingrained in us from the time we're very small of what a family is, what it should look like. This family – _my_ family – isn't that. They – we – never have been and never will be. And I love that about us. At the same time, we _are_ like any other family. We laugh and we cry, we fight and we make up. We fall down and we help each other stand again. Where one is weak, others are strong. We are not perfect. We all have battle scars. Scars that we hide, and scars we wear like badges of honor. We are lost, and we are found, and we have been found. We love, and we are loved. And there is nothing – not one thing – that I would change about us."

Lexa's eyes burned and swam, and she let go of Aden for a second to brush away the tears before they could streak her make-up. She felt a touch on her arm, and when she looked over, Luna was holding out a tissue. Lexa pressed her lips together, trying not to smile though she wasn't sure why. She took the tissue and carefully dabbed at her lower lids, then tucked it into the small purse she carried, expecting she might need it again later. Luna's fingers brushed her arm again, and this time Lexa did smile, because now she was offering a whole pocket pack of tissues. She had always been the 'mom' of their family, the one they could count on to be prepared with anything they might need, even when Mom had been alive. Some things never changed, and like Clarke, Lexa wouldn't want them to. 

"As you go through the gallery, you're going to see some familiar faces, because it was important to me that my family be here to see this. Please understand that they have given their permission for me to reveal moments in their lives that they might otherwise keep to themselves, but that permission doesn't extend to strangers asking questions, so please be respectful." Clarke's smile had slipped away, making it clear that anyone who violated that would immediately be at the top of her shit list, and probably asked to leave. 

"And now, without further ado, and in the immortal words of the late, great Jonathan Larsen: How do you measure a year in the life? Measure in Love."

The curtain parted, revealing the rest of the gallery, and the first thing Lexa saw was a little glass that held Clarke's elf shoes and her own high heels. " _That's_ where they went!" she said as Clarke approached. "I wondered!" 

Clarke laughed. "No you didn't. You hate those shoes!" 

"I was going to wear them tonight, actually," Lexa said. "It seemed fitting." 

Clarke raised her eyebrows, but before she could say anything, Aden interjected. "Wait," he said. "You got to keep your elf costume?"

"Well..." Clarke said, looking sideways, "not _exactly_..."

"You _stole_ the shoes?" Aden asked. 

"Shh!" Clarke hissed, grinning. "I earned those shoes. The puke never did come out of my sneakers." 

"Eww!" Madi and Aden said in unison. 

They began to make their way through the gallery, and Lexa knew – had known almost from the day they met – that Clarke was talented, but here, surrounded by images she had created in various mediums, capturing the rollercoaster year they'd experienced together, she was in awe. There were paintings and sketches, photographs and collages, little sculptural arrangements... everywhere she looked there were the faces of those Lexa held nearest and dearest, and objects that would have been mundane but in this context were magical. A place setting from Luna and Derrick's kitchen ('They'll get it back when the show is over,' Clarke assured her) and scraps of wood and nails from when Tris and Aden had helped Derrick build a second picnic table. A life-size photograph of her mother's grave, and next to it one of Clarke's father's, real fresh flower arrangements laid in front of both. A painting of Lexa and her sisters, she and Anya bracketing Luna, holding her hands and giving what comfort they could when the past rose up and flooded into the present. Their cabin by the lake, decorated for the wedding. A picture of their joined hands as they exchanged rings. The sketch Clarke had done of Madi at the Labor Day picnic. One of the drawings Madi had done of the little girl with her cry for help trapped inside her. 

Madi tugged on Lexa's hand and pointed to the drawing, then to herself. Far from being upset by the image, she was beaming proudly. "I know!" Lexa said. "Maybe one day you'll have an art show all your own!" Madi nodded vigorously, and mimed taking pictures and painting, just like Clarke. 

"Look!" Aden said, pointing to a blown-up image of the picture Clarke had posted of him on Halloween, along with Megan Rapinoe's response. "I'm in the show too!" 

"Of course you are," Clarke said. "You all are. That's the point."

"I know," Aden said. "I just..." He shrugged. "Sometimes it just still doesn't feel real."

"I know the feeling," Lexa said, ruffling his hair, and for once he allowed it. "Sometimes it doesn't feel quite real to me, either." Sometimes it didn't seem possible that so much could have happened in just 365 days... or 373 days, if Clarke's math was right. If the person she'd been a year ago could see the person she was now, the life she had, she wouldn't believe it. 

"It's amazing," Lexa said. "Clarke, this is..." She shook her head, reaching for the tissues Luna had given her. 

"This is my love letter," Clarke said. "This is—"

Lexa kissed her. There, in front of a painting of the painting of mistletoe Clarke had put on her apartment wall the night she'd asked Lexa to stay, because neither of them wanted to be alone on Christmas, she kissed her, letting them become part of the exhibit, part of the show. 

"Get a room!" Tris said, but they could hear the laughter in her voice.

"Like mother, like daughter," Clarke quipped, and Tris grinned. And they were there too, on the walls – Tris with her head in Anya's lap, Tris and Aden and Adria sprawled on the dock, the three of them banding together and attacking Raven with water balloons, Tris with a serious expression as she worked at her sewing machine...

"I thought you were taking credit for this," Lexa said, gesturing between herself and Clarke. "You and your mistletoe." 

"True," Tris said. "I'm pretty much awesome at this matchmaking thing." She shot a significant look in Anya and Raven's direction, where they were laughing together, flutes of champagne in their hands. Lexa didn't know why she felt she could take credit for that particular match-up, but she wasn't going to argue. For all she knew, Tris had been the one to tell Anya to go for it, when Anya was usually the sort who went out on one or two dates, maybe, and then went out of her way to never see the person again. (And yet _Lexa_ was the one who got lectured about commitment issues...) 

"Matchmaking seamstress extraordinaire," Clarke said, gesturing as if she was placing a crown on Tris' head. Tris bobbed a curtsy and did her best royal wave. 

"Come on," Tris said, grabbing Aden's wrist. "There are still some of those goat cheese onion puff things!" Aden looked at them for permission to go with his cousin, and they both nodded. 

"At least we know where their priorities are," Lexa joked. She was sure they would congratulate Clarke at some point, but she remembered being that age, at least vaguely, and the acquisition and consumption of food had often been at the top of her To Do list. Her mom had joked that one of Lexa's legs must be hollow, because she didn't know where else she could be keeping it. 

"This is amazing," Luna said, coming over and putting her arms around Clarke. "I honestly had no idea..." She shook her head. "I'm glad you found Lexa," she said. "I'm glad you stayed."

"Me too," Clarke said, hugging her back, holding her tight for as long as Luna wanted the embrace to last. Lexa put her hand on her sister's back gently, understanding her emotion. There was picture of Luna when she was a child – or really a young teen – shell-shocked and withdrawn, juxtaposed with one of her now, smiling at something they couldn't see but it was probably one of the kids, and maybe it hadn't happened in a year, but it made Lexa realize just how far Luna had come, and how hard she'd fought to get there. There was a picture of Derrick with a tear stained Jakey cradled to his chest, and one of Luna on the floor with him, playing a game that was supposed to help with his speech delays. There was all of them on Halloween in their costumes, and Luna presiding over the dying of Easter eggs. 

There was no way for Clarke to have captured every moment, but somehow the show managed to present the ones that were most important, the ones that defined their family. Like a collage of moments from so many Sunday dinners, all of them simple, mundane shots that one might find in any family picture album, but when you put them all together, you got a sense of just how important those moments were. They changed and grew, but they always came back together, week after week, and together they were greater than the sum of their parts. 

When they reached the end, Lexa realized they were actually back at the beginning, that the gallery had been set up to lead them in a loop... only not a loop. Two loops. A figure 8, or... 

"An infinity symbol," she said softly. 

Clarke nodded. "It's a celebration of the year we've had, but it's also... there is no end. Because there will be another year, and another after that, and—"

Lexa kissed her again, wanting to say something deep and meaningful but at a complete loss for words because how did you tell someone that they were everything you'd ever wanted and needed without ever knowing it? How did you say that your life only truly began when they walked into it? How did you express that their brilliance surpassed the sun and the moon and all of the stars, and you couldn't imagine how you'd lived before them and how glad you were that you didn't have to imagine what it would be like after them, because come hell or high water, neither of you was going anywhere for a long, long time?

"Marry me," she said, her forehead resting against Clarke's, one hand on either side of her neck.

Clarke smiled. "I already did," she said, twisting Lexa's ring on her finger as a reminder. 

"I know," Lexa said. "But that was only so—"

"If the next words out of your mouth aren't 'we could spend the rest of our lives together, as happy tomorrow as we are today,' you're sleeping on the couch," Clarke said. It was probably an idle threat, but there was something serious in her eyes. "I married you because it was what I wanted. What felt right. And I would do it again any day. Every day."

Lexa nodded. "Thank you," she said. "For finding me. For staying. For being my wife and the mother of our children. For this. For... for being you. Thank you."

Clarke's eyes closed, and when they opened again they were as damp as Lexa's. "No one has ever said that," she said. "No one has ever thanked me for being me. I've never been..." She pressed her lips to Lexa's, hard and soft at the same time. "Thank you for looking at me and _seeing me_ ," she said. "Thank you for that being enough."

"Always," Lexa said. "Always."

Someone cleared their throat, and they tore their eyes away from each other. Lexa's grip on Clarke's arm tightened, ready to pull her away, because Abby was standing there, and she'd never approved, not of Clarke's art, not of them, not of—

"I understand now," Abby said. "I know it took me some time – maybe longer than it should have – but I understand now. Why... why you do this. Why you create. Why you dove headlong – and recklessly, I thought – into this relationship, this life, this family. Seeing this... how could you not? You have a gift, Clarke, and I'm sorry it took me so long to recognize it. I'm sorry I never encouraged it the way I should have. You have a gift, and now you've given the rest of the world one, too."

Clarke sniffed and pulled free of Lexa to hug her mother, holding her for as long as she'd held Luna, longer, but maybe just long enough for the wounds that had been inflicted over years, over a lifetime, to begin to heal. 

"Thanks, Mom," Clarke said when she pulled away, and Lexa offered them both the pocket pack of tissues. "I hope... if I do this again in five years, or ten... I hope you'll be part of it."

Abby smiled. "I hope so too."

* * *

"I don't think I've ever seen this much sushi in my life," Tris said, her eyes wide. "I want to try one of everything!" 

"Just don't make yourself sick," Anya said. Tris scoffed, and Anya rolled her eyes, although Lexa wasn't sure if it was at herself or her daughter. She suspected it might be more the former than the latter; it was such a 'mom' thing to say, and it was a role Anya was still working on seeing herself as filling, even though it had been almost a year. 

"Here's hoping she doesn't take that as a challenge," Raven said. "Actually... let me make sure she's far away from Jasper, who might _make_ it a challenge." She scooted through the crowd to rearrange her friends to keep her... Lexa wasn't sure what Tris was in relation to Raven, how Raven thought of Tris or even what labels she and Anya put on their relationship, and she hadn't yet dared ask about the wink of metal she'd seen around Raven's left ring finger... away from the troublemakers. 

Because tradition was tradition, and Lexa's family had dibs on Christmas Eve, and Clarke's friends got New Years, and a giant sushi buffet. They'd delayed the meal until after Clarke's opening, so it was nearly midnight by the time they sat down. They'd extended an invitation to Lexa's – and Clarke's – family to join them, including the kids, and with the exception of Abby, they'd accepted. Abby had instead offered to take little Jake home and put him to bed, since it was already long past his bedtime. Luna had looked dubious – there were rules, after all – but Lexa and Anya had convinced her to bend them for a few hours, and when Derrick had pointed out that Abby had raised Clarke, so clearly she knew what she was doing, Luna had caved. 

"I honestly thought we were going to get stuck with all the kids," Luna said, "while the rest of you went out."

"I kind of thought so too," Anya admitted. "You can thank Clarke for sparing you."

"Next time you want to go out, just tell us," Lexa said. "We can watch Adria and Jake for you."

"I just might take you up on that," Luna said. "I don't remember the last time Derrick and I went somewhere that wasn't kid-friendly. I'm sure there are a dozen restaurants he'd like to try where there isn't anything remotely resembling a chicken nugget on the menu." 

"There definitely aren't any chicken nuggets here," Lexa pointed out. 

"I know," Derrick said, grinning. 

They found seats at the table and dug in, and the conversation flowed as freely as the sake... which meant the kids probably heard words they shouldn't have, and Lexa suspected there might be a few awkward conversations when they asked about things they'd overheard that they didn't understand, but that was a tomorrow problem. Today – tonight – was for celebrating. 

Of course Clarke's art was one of the main topics that people kept coming back to, and it warmed Lexa to hear her friends praise her, and some of them did ask questions about different pieces but none that were so intrusive that they weren't comfortable answering. Eventually, though, Clarke held up a hand. "Okay, okay!" she said. "Enough about me! And us! Doesn't anyone else have anything to share?"

"Well _actually_ ," Harper said, "I was meaning to ask you if you offered a friends and family discount on family portraits." She put her hand on her belly, which Lexa hadn't noticed until now was much rounder than it had been last time she'd seen her, way back at the wedding. 

All it took was that simple gesture, and everyone was cheering and toasting and offering their congratulations, patting Harper on the back and punching Monty in the shoulder. (Okay, that was only a few of the guys, but from the way Monty winced, they were none too gentle about it.) 

Gina glanced at Bellamy, who cleared his throat. "I guess now's as good a time as any to let you all know that we're also pregnant."

Lexa looked over at Anya, who almost choked on a piece of shrimp. She held a napkin to her mouth, to cover her cough and her grin. Lexa hated – _hated_ \- when men said 'we're pregnant' because no, the woman was pregnant; the man was just along for the ride for nine months. And Anya could read her face like a book.

"Behave, both of you," Luna hissed. 

"So far I've done most of the work," Gina said, "but I'm hopeful he'll step up his game once she's born." She winked at Bellamy, who had least had the good grace to look sheepish.

"Wait," Octavia said. "When are you due?"

"May," Gina said. "Why?"

"June," Octavia said. "We've been waiting to tell people, but—"

After that, the moms-to-be banded together to discuss symptoms and due dates and a lot of other stuff Lexa was just as glad to have gotten to skip out on. She reached under the table to squeeze Clarke's hand, and Clarke squeezed back. 

"So were you just going to hope we didn't notice?" Luna finally asked, looking at Anya. "Because you really should know better by now." 

Anya quickly covered her left hand with her right, which was as good an admission of guilt – although guilt wasn't the right word – as they were going to get. "It's not a big—" She stopped at Luna's glare. "We're not rushing into anything," she amended. 

"Who proposed to who?" Clarke asked, lighting up. 

"We... both did?" Anya said. 

"Because I'm brilliant," Tris said. "They both told me they wanted to propose and asked for my help picking out the ring, so I went with both of them at different times and got them to get _matching_ rings, and then I convinced them both to propose on Christmas morning so it was like who could get down on one knee faster—"

"Anya," Raven said. "Kneeling isn't my strong suit." 

"Right," Tris said. "But then Anya couldn't remember what pocket she put the ring in. So Raven got the ring out first and basically it was just totally epic with them proposing at the same time. Don't worry," she added. "I took video." 

"You really are the best matchmaker," Lexa told Tris, who grinned a rice-and-fish grin, having already shoved another piece of sushi in her mouth. She was slowing down, but from the looks of things, she wasn't going to have much trouble meeting her goal of trying one of each kind. 

Madi got out of her seat and came over to them, wedging herself between their chairs and trying, it seemed, to sit in both their laps at once. She offered Clarke the card she'd made, now a bit wrinkled around the edges because she'd been holding it all night. Clarke carefully peeled back the flap of the envelope and slid it out, squeezing Madi so tight she looked like she was having trouble breathing when she saw what was written inside. "You _are_ my favorite family," Clarke said softly, sniffling.

"I know," Madi said. Her head tipped onto Clarke's shoulder, her eyelids drooping a little, and Clarke pushed back a loose strand of her hair. 

"We'll go home soon," she promised. "Can you make it 'til midnight?" 

Madi nodded and revived a little when they went out onto the restaurant's patio to watch the fireworks. "Five... four... three... two... one..."

"Happy New Year!" Madi cheered along with everyone else, and Lexa scooped her up and swung her around, hugging her to her chest and listening to her giggle before she set her down. Clarke caught her and pulled her into a kiss while Madi went to get hugs from the rest of the family, and the fireworks in Lexa's belly rivaled the ones in the sky. 

"Do you want me to take them?" Luna asked, looking toward the kids. "I don't mind, if you two want the house to yourself for the night." 

Lexa looked at Clarke, who considered, then shook her head. "Thanks, though," she said. 

They gathered Aden and Madi, whose burst of midnight energy had quickly faded, and by the time they got home she was so deeply asleep Lexa had to carry her inside. She woke up long enough for them to help her out of her party dress and into pajamas, and for a quick trip to the bathroom to pee and brush her teeth, before tucking her in and kissing her good night. Aden got himself ready for bed, but they tucked him in too, with Cricket at his side as usual. 

Finally, they were alone, exhausted and elated, undressing each other with their eyes and then with their hands, dresses tossed over the back of a chair where they wouldn't wrinkle, stockings faring less well but Lexa didn't care. They tumbled into bed, all of Clarke's skin against all of Lexa's, and they'd learned a lot about each other in the past year, but the best and most exciting thing was that they hadn't run out of new things to discover, and Lexa wondered aloud if they ever would.

"Not tonight," Clarke said, her lips brushing Lexa's skin as she kissed a path down her belly. "Tomorrow's not looking good either." She looked and smiled. 

"On the contrary," Lexa said. "Tomorrow's looking better than ever. And the day after that, and the day after that, and..."

* * *

Lexa woke up slowly, savoring the warmth of Clarke pressed against her back and the soft brush of her breath on her shoulder blade. Their fingers were still laced together from the night before, and she squeezed Clarke's hand gently, not wanting to wake her if she wasn't ready to be woken. She stirred, but settled again, and Lexa tried to do the same. Eventually, though, she started to get restless, and tried to carefully extricate herself from Clarke's embrace.

Clarke grumbled, tightening her grip, and Lexa fought a smile. "I'll be right back, love," she said softly. 

"No," Clarke said. "Stay."

"I'm not Cricket," Lexa said. "I don't obey commands." 

Clarke heaved a sigh. "Neither does Cricket when she doesn't want to." She loosened her arms enough that Lexa was able to turn and face her, the tips of their noses brushing, and then their lips, before Clarke burrowed into Lexa's shoulder. 

Lexa laughed, combing her fingers through Clarke's tangled hair, working out the worst of the knots. "I was going to make you coffee," Lexa said. "Not quite breakfast in bed, but..."

Clarke considered, making humming noises that tickled Lexa's neck. "Coffee's good," she admitted. "But you're better..."

"I'm glad I rank above coffee in the hierarchy of things you want in the morning," Lexa said. "But I kind of also need to pee."

Clarke pouted, but let her go. Lexa ducked into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later to find Clarke wrapped around her pillow, giving her a sky-blue version of Cricket's best pleading puppy eyes. Lexa tied the belt of her robe and leaned against the bathroom door frame. "What's that look for?" she asked. 

"Coffee?" Clarke asked. 

Lexa found her slippers and slid her feet into them, then leaned over to press a kiss to Clarke's temple. "Coming right up." She padded quietly past Madi and Aden's rooms, surprised they weren't awake already, but then they'd been up way past their bedtimes, too. Only Cricket joined her as she ventured downstairs, and Lexa let her out the back door to do her business while she got the coffee (and water for tea) going. She stood on the porch and threw Cricket's ball a few times, until the kettle started to whistle and she had to go back in. 

Clarke had gotten up while she was downstairs, and had put on her favorite flannel pajamas and tugged her hair into a messy bun. Lexa handed Clarke her mug, setting her own on her nightstand before crawling back under the covers. 

"So is this a new tradition we can look forward to?" Lexa asked. "New Year's Eve at the art gallery, watching you unveil your latest masterpiece?" She was mostly teasing... but not entirely. She knew the main reason Clarke had stopped picking up temp jobs was because Madi needed a teacher and full-time caregiver, but it had also given her the time to create everything they'd seen the night before (or the bulk of it; some of it had probably been from before Madi came into their lives), and Lexa had never seen her happier. Or maybe happy wasn't exactly the right word. It was part of it, but it wasn't all. With time and space to do the thing she loved most, she was... content. Fulfilled, in a way that no other job could. 

Clarke shook her head. "I'm not saying I won't have another show at some point – I hope I will! – but it's not something I can see myself doing every year. This was... something special. Something that felt – that _is_ \-- bigger than me. Maybe a once in a lifetime thing. And if it is, I'm okay with that. Because I've been thinking..."

She trailed off, and Lexa set her mug down, turning toward her to give Clarke her full attention. 

"These months with Madi have been... eye-opening," Clarke said. "In a lot of ways. Working with her, teaching her, using art as a way to communicate with her, and for her to communicate with us... it's made me really realize the power that art has for... change. For healing. And I want to pursue that. Not just with Madi, but with other kids." Clarke looked at her, her eyes boring into Lexa. "When Madi goes back to school next year, I want to, too."

It took Lexa a moment to realize what Clarke was saying. "Do you think she'll be ready?" she asked. 

Clarke nodded. "I do. Look how much progress she's made just in the past month. Next school year is still nine months away. If we can get her in the same school – or better, the same class – as Adria to help her transition, I think she'll be fine."

Lexa considered. Nine months was a long time, and as she'd learned, a lot could happen in that amount of time. Barring any major setbacks – and she sincerely hoped there wouldn't be any – there was no reason to believe Madi wouldn't continue to climb out of the well of silence she'd fallen into, bit by bit. And she didn't have to exactly like a normal child (whatever that meant) to go back to school. She just had to be able to fake it enough that it wouldn't have her teachers tearing their hair out and trying to get her shuffled off to a classroom for kids with special needs. 

"What are you going to study?" Lexa asked. 

"I'm not sure yet," Clarke said. "I've only started looking into programs. A lot of it will be psychology, I'm assuming, and some social work. It's the therapy part I need to learn; the art portion I've got covered." 

Lexa nodded. "It sounds perfect," she said. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you get the ball rolling."

Clarke blinked. "That's... it?" she asked. 

"What do you mean?" Lexa asked, worried she'd gotten something wrong, disappointed Clarke somehow. 

"You don't have... questions? Or concerns? You don't think it's crazy?" Clarke asked. 

_I'm not your mother,_ Lexa thought, but she didn't say it. Instead, she took Clarke's hands and pressed them between her own. "I'm sure I'll have lots of questions," she said. "Maybe even a few concerns. But no, it's not crazy. It's amazing. _You're_ amazing. And from what I've seen, it seems like exactly the right next step for you. I put my career ahead of my family, ahead of everything, for a long time. Then I met you, and you made me realize that there was more to life than work and money in the bank. You already knew that. You didn't know where you were going career-wise, but you knew what you didn't want."

"Then I met you, and your family, and our family..." Clarke said, leaning in.

"And it helped you find a way to combine two of the things you love most: art and helping people," Lexa finished for her. "And now we're both exactly where we're meant to be."

Clarke kissed her, soft and slow, and then not so soft and not so slow, and their coffee and tea got cold and they neither noticed nor cared. 

Clarke traced a heart on Lexa's chest and pressed a kiss to its center, then looked up, eyes sparkling like the champagne they'd toasted with the night before. "Happy New Year, babe," she whispered.

"Happy New Year," Lexa echoed as their lips met again... and again... and again...

**Author's Note:**

> What started as a silly Christmas prompt turned into so much more, and I'm so happy that it did. This series has been my happy place, a group of stories that were about love, and family, and the curveballs life can throw, where even when things aren't great, they're still _good_.
> 
> But all good things must end, and having come full cirlc,e and shared a year in their life, this feels like the right time to let this series go. It's bittersweet, but I want to end on a high note, and I think I have. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has read and love these stories, loved these characters, this family. Your kind words have meant the world to me. I hope you'll find the same comfort and joy in other stories as you have here, and know that these stories will always be here to come home to when you need them. ❤


End file.
